School Days
by Medie Shanachie
Summary: Reporting to the scene of the crime, Colby Granger gets the shock of his life.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first Numb3rs fic so anything that seems out of character I blame on that.

Warning: This is going to get pretty graphic as it goes on and its going to touch on somethings that are pretty close to home for some people. If you want a preview, please scroll to the bottom and check the warning there. Just be prepared that it will be graphic and distrubing.

Standard Disclaimer: Don Eppes, Colby Granger, Megan and the rest of the team, don't belong to me, they belong to CBS and their creators (sorry can't think of who they are at the moment, but I'll get back to you). Sabrina and the other people at the school do belong to me.

* * *

It started out as an ordinary Monday morning.

FBI Special Agent Don Eppes looked over his team as they settled at their desks. It had been a rough few weeks for the team, but they seemed to be going back to normal. They didn't have a current case they were working on, but were hoping to spend the day wrapping up paperwork from the last few weeks. He fiddled with his pen as he studied the men and women under his command.

Colby was more relaxed now, not as contained as he had been, and he was back to joking with David. The two men no longer sat with their backs to each other the entire day, but were once again speaking about things not just case related.

David seemed to have forgiven Colby or at least decided to give his friend a second chance because he was agreeing to partner him in the field again. Even Don could see that the two men were back in step. The team leader breathed a sigh of relief that his decision to allow Colby to stay had not damaged their friendship beyond repair and he hoped it may even had helped them.

Megan had apparently come to terms with whatever had been bothering her since she returned from the Justice Department because she was more relaxed than she had been since her return.

Lastly Don turned his attention to Liz. She was still the newest addition to the team and even though he was dating her, he sometimes felt he knew her the least of all. He used this quiet opportunity to study her as she bent over some paperwork on her desk. Idly he wondered what she was so intent on. She had willing partnered Colby when he returned and seemed to hold no grudges against him, but, Don reminded himself, she barely knew Colby before the release of the Janus List. He also remembered that in most cases Liz was a forgiving woman and must have decided that Colby deserved a second chance.

The phones had been strangely quiet all morning so the entire team jumped when the one on Don's desk rang. Lurching forward, he grabbed the phone and barked into it, "Yeah. Eppes."

* * *

Sabrina Cooper listened as her son prattled on about Backwards Day, the Spirit day that all of the school would be celebrating today. She already knew everything he was saying since she taught at the same school he attended, but she was content to listen to him talk. The students and teachers would be starting their day at the end, starting with last period and then moving to the next and ending the day with first.

She glanced over at him as she drove. Everyday that passed, he looked more like his father. She didn't regret her decision thirteen years ago to leave college and not tell her boyfriend the truth, but sometimes she wondered how their lives would have been different if CJ had known his father. For thirteen years, they had lived quietly, peacefully and CJ had never questioned, but last night he had looked up from his math homework and asked, "Mom, what was my dad like?" She had sworn she wasn't going to lie to him, but she had been surprised by the question and hadn't known how to answer him. So she had stuttered something out, she couldn't remember what now, and that had apparently satisfied him because he had turned back to his homework, dropping the subject.

Her stomach was still in knots over the question from the night before. She knew the conversation wasn't over, but had only been delayed. Maybe it would have been better if she had called them both in sick today.

* * *

As Don stood up and reached for his FBI jacket, the phone cradled against his shoulder, the team sprang into action. Paperwork was shuffled aside as confident hands checked sidearms and reached for their own jackets. When Don turned back around and grabbed his flack vest, the team exchanged worried glances, but followed suit.

Don tossed the phone back towards his desk. Strapping on his vest, he shrugged into his FBI windbreaker. "What's going on?" David asked.

"Shots fired at Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School out in Arroyo Rojo. The gunmen are still on site and have taken some of the teachers and students hostage," Don explained as they hustled through the building. "The local department is requesting all available support. According to some of the kids who got out, the gunmen are three eighth grade students who were recently suspended. We don't have any word yet on how many dead or wounded."

"Jeez," Colby groaned from the backseat of the SUV they had piled into, "it sounds like another Columbine."

Don peeled out of the garage, tires squealing as he took the turns too fast. "I'm afraid it may be."

* * *

"CJ, your backpack," Sabrina called after her quickly departing son.

He heaved a sigh of annoyance, but turned around and trotted back to the car. Accepting it from her, he said, "Thanks, Mom."

She rested a hand on his shoulder so he didn't immediately walk away. "Why don't we go out to dinner at Marino's tonight? I'll try to answer whatever questions you have about your father."

"We don't have to go out to dinner to do that," CJ told her.

"I know. I'd just like to take you to dinner," she replied.

"CJ!" a male voice called from farther away.

CJ turned and waved at his friend. "All right, Mom. I gotta go."

Sabrina nodded and resisted the urge to lean over and kiss her son on the cheek. "Sounds good. Have a great day, honey."

"Mo-om," he whined as he took off.

Sabrina watched for a few minutes as her son ran across the quad towards his friends. He was growing up so quickly and she wasn't sure she was ready for it. She turned as her own name was called by a fellow teacher and fell into a conversation about some students that had been suspended the prior Thursday as they walked into the building.

* * *

Don swung the SUV into the area where the other official vehicles had been abandoned. As soon as it stopped, the team piled out of the car. Making sure their shields were prominently displayed, the agents hurried across the open space to where the local police had gathered. The chief of police looked up from the school plans as the team joined him. "Agent," he greeted Don.

"Agent Don Eppes," Don replied, then introduced the team. The chief nodded as each name was said. "What's the situation?" Don asked when he was done.

"We've got a kid here at the end of the hallway," the chief said, pointing to the map. "And two holding hostages in this room. The room they're in is a dead end room, there's only one way in from the outside."

"What is it?" Don asked. "What's the room used for?"

"It's the library," a male voice answered from behind them. "And there's a computer lab in there, too."

All of the agents turned around, although none of them reached for their sidearms. "Who're you?" Don barked.

"Carlo Martinez. I'm the principal of this school. Those are my students and teacher in there." The man in front of them wasn't the pressed suit presence that he normally presented to his staff and students. His suit jacket was tattered and torn and blood marred his forehead. "I've got my teachers that we've located taking a role, checking on which students we can account for. And I sent Ms. Smith, the vice principal, to the hospital to make sure all the students there were counted." He looked around at the controlled and panicked chaos. "We had a plan for something like this. It just didn't exactly work."

Don nodded. He had glanced at the numbers the chief had laid out next to the school map. The plan had worked surprisingly well. They had gotten the majority of the students and the teachers out; it looked like only one teacher was left in the building with the students, but the plan had not made provisions for more than one gunman. "Have we heard anything from the gunmen?" he asked.

The chief shook his head. "Nothing. No contact. We can call in, but I can't guarantee they'll pick up the phone."

"Okay. We need to know who they've got as hostages. We also need to know if any of the hostages have cell phones," Don said, turning back to the map.

"Mr. Martinez. Mr. Martinez!" a young voice yelled.

Colby turned around to see a blond boy struggling with the police at the edges of the barricades. The boy was dirt-streaked and tears stained his face, but he didn't look like he had been hurt. He was obviously hysterical though. "Do you know him?" Colby asked the principal.

Martinez turned and focused on the boy, squinting into the sun. He nodded after a moment. "Yes, yes. That's CJ Cooper. His mother is one of our teachers and he's a student here."

Colby motioned to the police officers that had been restraining the boy. "Let him through," he called.

"Yes, sir," they replied and let him go.

CJ ducked under the barricade and darted over to the principal. "Mr. Martinez, I can't find Mom," he panted out.

Martinez rested his hands on the boy's shoulders. "CJ, I'm sure she's fine. She's probably on the other side of the building. This is her hall duty period and she would have evacuated out the door by the nurse's office."

The boy shook his head frantically. "Not today. Remember it's Backwards Day? She was in class. I checked where she would have evacuated and then I went all the way around the building. I can't find her anywhere."

"Backwards Day?" Megan questioned. She had walked over to join the conversation between the principal, student, and Colby when she saw the trouble.

Colby nodded. "Yeah. We used to have them in my high school. The day would be reversed. You'd start the day with last period and end it with first. It was really confusing, but it was a Spirit day thing. We used to do it before big football games."

CJ turned and looked at the burly FBI agent. "My mom's school used to do it, too, that's where we got the idea from. Mom's the adviser for Student Council." He turned to Martinez again. "Sir, she's gotta be inside still. I talked to Ms. Smith, she didn't go to the hospital."

"Hey, Don," Colby called over to his boss, "we may know which teacher is inside." He motioned for the kid to come with him and led him over to where Don was still talking to the chief. "This kid is the son of one of the teacher's and he can't find his mom. Says they were doing Backwards Day today and she had a class. He checked where she should have been and she's not there."

Don nodded. "Okay. What's your name, kid?"

"CJ Cooper. My mom's Sabrina Cooper. She teaches eighth grade English," the kid answered.

Colby felt like he had been sucker-punched.

* * *

Warning: This situation is a Columbine like set-up and will be described graphically when the team goes into the building. It involves school students and teachers being shot and reactions of police, parents, other students, etc. 


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: See Chapter One for warnings and disclaimer cuz I just don't feel like repeating them right now. Just another addition, due to some real life issues (nothing bad, just mostly holiday insanity and work issues) and also the fact that I have about four stories I am working on right now...including a Numb3rs/Stargate: Atlantis crossover with a friend...I'm not sure when this will be finished. So this is the last chapter for a while. Hope you enjoy, y'all now have everything I've written._

_Oh and bonus points to anyone who's figured out the connection between Sabrina, CJ, and Colby already. I think I've given you enough clues...Anyone I've actually told does NOT get a guess._

_Oh and just for Rache...things go boom! And Rache, I know you read and beta'd this, but this is the unedited version cuz I was trying to get it uploaded quickly. I'll fix it when I have a little more time._

* * *

Sabrina dumped her bag and books on her desk and brushed a strand of red hair out of her face. Turning to the board, she quickly wrote the agenda for the day on it. Normally she had the homeroom period to get ready for her first class, but with Backwards Day, they had done away with homeroom and her honor students would be walking in any minute. She quickly wrote the Do Now up on the board and spun back around to organize her scattered possessions.

The wrestling coach poked his head into her room. "Sabrina," he called softly, "did CJ give you the permission slip for him to use the weight room?"

Sabrina looked up from her teacher's edition where she was trying to find the page they were going to need for the day. "Yes, Mike," she replied, "and I signed it. He didn't give it back to you?"

"No. I'll ask him about it later."

"Give him another one if you don't mind and I'll sign it again. I think he's been a little preoccupied."

Mike Crenshaw nodded. "Sure. Have you thought any more about what I asked?" he continued.

Sabrina shook her head. "I haven't really had a chance, Mike. I'm flattered, but I'm not sure I'm ready to date yet."

Mike nodded, although Sabrina could see he was disappointed. "All right, well, the offer's still open." He smiled at her, but the smile didn't touch his eyes. "Have a good day."

Sabrina smiled in reply. "You, too, Mike," she answered as her kids started to stagger into the room. She crossed over to the door and stood outside to help monitor the halls as the student streamed into their classes.

One of her girls handed her a newspaper clipping as she entered the room. "Current events," she told Sabrina. "It's about those FBI agents we've been hearing so much about."

Sabrina glanced down at the clipping and sucked in a lungful of air. She needed to keep her face solemn, needed to not react to the face that was in the picture. She hadn't seen his face in thirteen years; hadn't seen any recent pictures because no one had bothered to cut the pictures out with the articles before, although she knew he was in LA. Now, while her students settled into their seats and started their Do Now, she took a moment just to soak in the sight of him. He wasn't doing anything remotely dangerous, just standing beside a sedan, but the sight of him was almost enough to undo her. The core of him hadn't changed over the years; he still had the chiseled cheekbones and strong features that had caught her eye that first day of freshman orientation, but he was more muscular now and older. There were creases in his face she didn't know the stories behind, although she longed too. She didn't have that right anymore, despite CJ. Her honors class had been tracking the Violent Crimes Unit through the newspapers as part of their current events unit and even though she knew Colby was a part of the team, she had never expected to come face to face with a picture of him. The pictures weren't a part of their unit, the students rarely brought them in, so she had been safe before this.

"Ms. Cooper," one of the students called, pulling her out of her thoughts, "when did the Civil War officially start?"

Shutting thoughts of Colby behind the locked door where she normally kept them, Sabrina turned back to her class and her job.

* * *

The name had to be a coincidence. There was no way his Sabrina could be the same woman. Although she had wanted to be a teacher, had talked about it constantly to him. When they had talked about the future, she had always said she would be waiting at home for him when he can back from a tour, grading papers as she waited. They had separated for that summer after their second year of college. He had gone to summer ROTC training, they weren't allowed any outside contact, and when he returned to school in the fall; she wasn't there. He had no way to contact her, so he had finished up his degree, joined the Army, and tried very, very hard to forget her. Unfortunately he had never quite been able to.

"Don, I wanna go in," he interrupted the conversation between Don and the kid. He needed to see for himself if this woman was his Sabrina.

"Yeah, okay, Colby," Don replied, puzzled. "Of course, you're going in. We just gotta figure out how."

"Thanks, Don. What can I do?" Colby asked.

"Nothing yet. At the moment we're trying to decide the best way in. Mr. Martinez," Don called to the principal.

Colby pulled the kid away from the other officers and began to question him about his mother, but the kid immediately began frantically shaking his head, obviously too worried to concentrate on the questions. Megan nudged Liz and nodded towards the kid and Colby. "Does that kid look familiar?" she asked in a low voice.

"No," Liz replied immediately, but she was paying more attention to Don and his discussion than to what Megan was trying to show her.

Megan shifted the other agent so they were both looking at the teenager and their fellow agent. "Look at the kid and then look at Colby. Then age the kid a few years mentally."

"Megan, whatever you're wanting me to see...I'm missing it," Liz said.

"The kid's hair is lighter and his build isn't as well-defined, but he looks an awful lot like Colby," Megan said in the same low tone she had been using all along.

"I think you're projecting. The kid is just a scared teenager worried about his mom," Liz responded. "Now concentrate on your job." She turned away and stalked over to where Don was speaking with the chief and the principal, leaving Megan to watch Colby and the kid on her own.

David wandered over to Megan when he saw her standing alone. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We going in soon?"

He nodded. "I'm going to find some high ground. Just in case."

Megan knew the look on her face was horrified. "You're not going to shoot the kids, are you?"

"If they come out shooting, yes. But only to wound, Megan, unless someone orders a kill shot. These kids have already killed and wounded at least fifteen, I'm not feeling real generous right now." He squeezed Megan's shoulder comfortingly. "It'll be okay." At a look from Don, he nodded. "I've got to go."

When Megan joined the others, Don was arguing with the chief. "My team works better on our own. We'll go in and your guys can follow us."

"You're talking about taking four people in. That's not enough."

"It's a strike team, not an armed assault," Don argued. "We can move quieter and quicker on our own. And we're going in now." He slammed his hand down on the hood of the car they had been using as a table to empathize his point. "If I have to pull rank on scene, I will."

The chief got in a stare down with Don for a moment and even though he was larger, the younger FBI agent held his ground. "It's not worth the argument or the paperwork," he finally said. "You want to go in first and get your heads blown off, be my guest."

Don nodded and turned to the rest of his team. "Finish suiting up. We're going in. Colby, grab what you need to blow the doors open as quietly as possible. I want to get as close as we can without letting them know we're coming. Megan, Liz." He jerked his head at the two women and they walked off with him as one of the members of the S.W.A.T. team approached Colby and showed him a box of explosives.

CJ watched the FBI agent as he picked carefully through the box and put what he wanted into his vest pockets. "Are you going to get my mom out?" he asked.

"We're going to try, CJ, but I'm not promising anything. I want you to stay out of the way and with the police while we're inside. Once we get your mom out, I'll come find you and let you know how she is." Colby finished picking through the box and nodded to the S.W.A.T. man who closed it and went back to his team.

"I want to go with you," CJ insisted.

"No," Colby answered as he checked his sidearm. "We're going in and we're moving fast. Only the police are going in, not even Mr. Martinez is going with us. Your mom would be able to concentrate on what we tell her better if she knows you're safe."

The kid snorted. "How would you know what my mom would want?"

Colby looked into the kid's eyes and realized he was almost as tall as Colby himself. "Let's just say I knew someone a lot like her when I was younger. Trust me. Stay here with the officers and as soon as I can, I'll be back."

CJ's green eyes narrowed. "Fine. But you'd better be back."

Colby nodded and resisted an urge to tousle the kid's hair, knowing somehow that even if he knew the kid better it wouldn't endear him to CJ. "Yes, sir."

"Granger!" Don yelled.

"I gotta go, kid. Stay put." Colby jogged over to where the rest of the team stood; the S.W.A.T. team gathered behind them. "Ready, Don," he confirmed when he reached them.

"Colby, we've got two fire doors between us and the library," Don said quietly as they began to jog towards the building, using whatever cover they could find with the few bushes and trees that dotted the property.

They were planning to come in from the opposite side of the building to muffle the sounds of Colby's demolition work better. Don dropped to one knee when they reached the outside door and pulled his lock picks out of his pocket. Working quickly, he had the door unlocked in a matter of moments. Carefully, he eased it open to admit the team. "And it still surprises me every time you do that," Liz whispered as she slipped past him.

Don grinned. "It comes in handy." He nodded at the S.W.A.T. commander as the man stepped up and took a hold of the door. "Give my team a few minutes to get to the door and through," he instructed. The commander nodded in response and turned to give orders to the others as Don entered the building.

Colby was already kneeling by the first fire door and attaching the demolitions when Don reached them. Liz and Megan were standing over him, but watching the halls, not their teammate's steady hands. Colby finished with one last wire and stood up. "Back up, guys," he said. The group moved until Colby motioned that they were far enough away, then he called quietly, "Fire in the hole." Ducking down, he set off the explosions.

A muffled pop traveled down the hall and Don looked back to see the lock hanging loose from the door. Colby hurried back down and examined it quickly, then carefully inserted his fingers into the door and pulled it open. It opened towards him, allowing Megan to go in low; gun drawn. "Clear," she said after a moment.

Don and Liz entered next, leaving Colby to cover their rear and wait for the S.W.A.T. commander to catch up. When the S.W.A.T. team joined him, he slipped through the door himself. The rest of the team had moved up to the next door he needed to open and he quickly joined them. "Get to work," Don told him as he skidded to a stop.

Colby dropped to his knees and pulled the rest of his demolitions out of his pockets. Working just as swiftly, but with hands that weren't quite as steady now, he quickly set the new explosive. "Colby, try not to blow us up," Megan commented when she noticed his shaking hands.

"Not enough here to do that," he replied absently as he finished up. "Move back."

Once again the team retreated, this time sweeping up the S.W.A.T. members that had followed them in. They hunkered down close to the first door and Colby repeated his warning, "Fire in the hole," before setting off the fuse.

The S.W.A.T. commander crept forward with the team after Colby gave the all-clear. "Let me send two of my guys in with the phone," he requested of Don.

Don considered the hall in front of them, chewing on his gum as he thought. "Yeah, okay," he finally replied. "Let's try to get this done without too much bloodshed."

The commander motioned two of his men towards him, gave them low voiced orders, then sent them forward with a shield and the phone they had brought in.

Don glanced over at Colby who was waiting impatiently, shifting from foot to foot as his eyes darted around the hallway they had stopped in. Don touched Liz's shoulder, motioned that he was going to cross over to Colby and Megan, then across the hall. "Hey," he greeted them, hunkering down next to them since they had both dropped into crouches when they saw him moving.

"Something up?" Megan asked.

Don shook his head. "Nope, just wanted to check out the view from this angle."

Megan looked at him. "Ooo-kay," she replied. "I'm going to go stand with Liz." She repeated Don's movements across the hall, staying low and moving quickly.

Don glanced down the hall, then back at the man next to him. "Normally I wouldn't ask, but is whatever it is that's bothering you going to affect this op?"

"I'm fine, Don," Colby replied, although he didn't take his green eyes off the doors to the library.

"Colby, you're more nervous than that time Charlie tried to get you to help him with the math problem. What's going on?"

Colby sighed, but still didn't turn to look at his boss. "The teacher that's in there. I may know her."

"Know her like...?"

"Like if it's who I think she is, we dated in college."

"Colby, the odds of this being a girl you knew in Idaho."

Colby cut him off. "Are better than you'd think. She was from LA or well this was one of the places she was from. She very well might have come back here after she left school."

"Yeah, but still..."

"I have to know, Don."

"Yeah, all right. We'll..." Don was interrupted by the return of the commander with the phone in his hand. "What?" Don barked quietly.

"They want to talk to the guy in charge."


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's addendum: Hey, y'all. I'm really glad people have been reading my little story "School Days", but I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. When I started writing this, I wasn't really thinking about anything other than an enjoyable story for all of you. Although I patterned the school after the one I was working in at the time and used a few other things about my own school, I wasn't really thinking about anything like this happening to us. It has been ages since we've had something as bad as Columbine. But then we had an alert at my school one day and although it turned out to be easily taken care of and everyone was safe; it hit a little too close to home. In addition, I got a phone call recently from a good friend who told me that something similar happened at the school I attended as a child._

_Because of these two incidents, I am emotionally unable to continue this story at this point. Hopefully some day I'll be able to, but right now I am just not able. Sorry to disappoint all of you, but I cannot put myself through the ringer and deal with this._

_So at this point, "School Days" is on semi-permanent hiatus. Please enjoy the rest of my stories...I haven't stopped writing completely, I unable to complete this one. And please feel free to check out my original work at www dot writing dot com/ authors / medievalgirl if you'd like._


	4. Chapter 4

All right I have been getting a lot of alerts for things on here, which I am assuming means people are not taking a look at my profile. Completely understandable, but I feel kinda bad that y'all are alerting things and never going to get an update for them…sorry, but I'm not posting on here anymore. Mostly because my multiple personalities are taking over my brain and making it difficult for me to keep track of things.

The main reason this account is still active is I have friends who post on here and I like to be able to comment to them when they post something new or help them out with things. Sooo with that in mind, I'm copying what I posted in my profile and posting it in each of the unfinished stories:

Okay so my multiple identities are now taking over my brains and I am not sure who I am or where I'm going. Joke! But I am trying to get all my writing condensed down into two accounts. With that in mind...I will not longer be posting here. Nothing new is going to go up here or will be finished here. If something is incomplete, it will either not be finished or it will be moved over to my livejournal account. I'm not going to take anything down, but I am not going to be adding to anything either.

If you would like to find me on the web from now on:

my **fanfiction** will be on live journal under the name shanachie_quill at http: /shanachie-quill .livejournal .com/

my **original fiction** continues to be on under the name medievalgirl at **http:/ www. writing. com / authors/ medievalgirl**

Copy and paste the websites to use them and remove the spaces (sorry refuses to let people post URLs that are not internal).

With that in mind, I also want to let people who have been asking know what of my incomplete work will or will not be finished or what I hope to finish. So of the following stories...here is what I am hoping/planning.

**Life Lessons**-I intend to finish this (although I'm not sure when)

**School Days**-I do not intend to finish this

**Not What He Wanted**—At this point in time I'm not planning to finish it, that doesn't mean I won't, but I'm not going to work on it at this moment—I screwed up the back story and I need to fix it

**Past Revealed**—At this point in time I'm not planning to finish it, that doesn't mean I won't, but I'm not going to work on it at this moment—I screwed up the back story and I need to fix it

**SGA2 Saves the World**-I'd like to finish this, but I've kinda lost my SGA muse...so if I can find him again...I shall

**The Handbook to InterAgency Co-Operation**—I'm considering emailing my co-author and seeing if I can just plow through the last couple of chapters and finishing it…I'll get back to y'all on this

**Through the Looking Glass**-This is not going to be finished at this time

**Playing with Fire**—At this point in time I'm not planning to finish it, that doesn't mean I won't, but I'm not going to work on it at this moment—I screwed up the back story and I need to fix it

Okay so not as many as I feared, but more than I thought...if that made any sort of sense. Hope to see y'all over at one of my other identities. I won't be closing this account because I do have friends that write on here and I'd like to be able to leave them reviews and such...but like I said I won't be posting here anymore.

I think that's everything, if you have any specific questions feel free to PM me.


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